La Perouse

LA PEROUSE - THE FRENCH CONNECTION

FRENCHMAN'S BEACH

HISTORY

"In 1770 Captain James Cook finally ended the mystery of Terra Australis Incognita for the European world. Although partly discovered and mapped to the west and north by Dutch traders and explorers, and by English pirate, William Dampier, until Cook's four-month cruise on the Endeavour up the east coast of what he called New South Wales in 1770, the maps of the time showed a blank - the east coast was unknown to, and uncharted by, the European world." (http://www.acn.net.au/articles/australianhistory/)

When Captain James Cook explored Botany Bay in 1770 he considered it a suitable place for settlement. He advised the Attorney General in London and eighteen years later when England lost the American colonies in the American War of Independence it was decided to send a fleet of ships with convicts to colonise the territory explored by Cook. In 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip made landfall in Botany Bay but soon discovered it was not a suitable site for settlement and sent long boats north to explore another bay mentioned in Cooks log. The fleet sailed up the coast and entered Sydney Harbour. Finding a good supply of fresh water and a good landing spot they moored at Circular Quay and the new settlement began.

In 1787, the French ship La Perouse landed on Tutuila and a shore crew were attacked, leading to the death of 12 people. This event was captured by the French artist Nicholas Ozanne.

Not long after the First Fleet sailed up the coast and began the settlement at Circular Quay, the French explorer La Perouse sailed into Botany Bay just months after Captain Arthur Phillip had claimed Terra Nullius for the British Crown. La Perouse had been sailing around the Pacific and one wonders what Australia would have been like today if La Perouse had come first to Botany Bay and claimed it for France.

GETTING THERE

The starting point for the bus trip to La Perouse is Circular Quay. Bus #399 travels along Elizabeth Street to Liverpool Street where it turns left, heading up Oxford Street towards Anzac Parade..

Today Frenchman's Beach is a popular swimming beach. The gentle shores of Botany Bay are a contrast to the ocean beaches along the coastline of Sydney.